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List of NSmen who died in training
National service is a compulsory conscription in Singapore. Male citizens are required to undergo the two-year stint to serve full-time in SAF, SCDF and SPF. Due to the training safety regulations, training deaths are rare. Committee of Inquiry Safety systems must be designed and enforced in a way that it eliminates training deaths. A member of the external review panel will be included in the Committee of Inquiry (COI) that investigates such incidents. The panel, consisting of the prominent safety experts and professionals outside the SAF, helps the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) scrutinize the SAF's safety management system. They report periodically to the Defence Minister on the rigour of the system and prevent recommendations to improve. Dr Ng Eng Hen emphasised that Mindef will continue to strive towards zero fatalities during training as he addressed two tragic incidents in the past year involving SAF full-time national serviceman. "We must consistently improve the rigour of our safety systems", he said. "If we don't, then it will mean another precious soldier lost to the family". With its inclusion in a COI, the External Review Panel will publish a public report based on the committee's findings after it reviews them. The COI, presently a four member team, is now chaired by a senior civil servant from outside Mindef and includes a senior doctor from the public sector. Separately, Mindef will also commission an external medical panel to review its current policies and measures on how heat injuries are being managed. The medical panel will make recommendations on how the existing system can be improved, given how Singapore has gotten hotter in the past two decades. "We must press on to achieve zero fatalities from heat injuries," he added. Besides plugging systemic gaps, the SAF is studying how individual wearable devices can be used to monitor a soldier's condition in real time. On average, MINDEF has recorded one national service training-related death each year for the past two decades. "We will instil in every commander and in every soldier a strong sense of responsibility in ensuring training safety at all levels," said Dr Ng. "We need every level to play their part, down to the individual commander and soldier to protect their own well-being and that of their men." 2010s *15 March 2012 - Amirul Syahmi bin Kamal, 20, was found unconsciousness at the toilet in Bedok Camp. *5 May 2012 - Suresh Seluras, 24, was hanged at the Changi East Airbase. The court heard that at about 6pm on the evening before he was found dead, he was drinking with some friends at a happy hour event at Changi Mess, outside Changi Air Base (West). *12 August 2012 - Mohammad Fahrurazzi bin Salim, 20 went missing during the jungle exercise at the Sungei Batu Apoi, Temburong, Brunei. He was in a convoy of the four boats meant to support the water crossing of the exercise. His body was found three days later, 200 metres from the last known position. *26 September 2012 - Tan Tai Seng, 23, was killed by a fallen tree while approaching Ama Keng military training area. The transport operator was performing the in-camp training where the 63 Combat Service Support Battalion when the accident happened. An army doctor who was with him tried to resuscitate him, but did not succeed. It took more than 10 soldiers to lift and move the tree before Tan Tai Seng was pulled out. In addition, the gate at Ama Keng Road was relocated. *30 April 2018 - Dave Lee Han Xuan, 19, a Guardsman from the 1st Battalion Singapore Guards, was found to display signs of heat injury at about 8.35am after he had just completed the 8km march at Bedok Camp. Lee was evacuated to the medical centre and subsequently transferred to the Changi General Hospital, where he was warded in the intensive care unit. Lee's condition worsened during the hospitalization and he died on 30 April 2018, 12.35pm. *13 May 2018 - Kok Yuen Chin, 22, died after being unconsciousness at the bottom of 12m deep fire station pump, which was filled with water. It was in violation with SCDF rules.